Ive got a 95 neon sohc standard thats been giving me issues here. The other day it was running fine got to my house and car would barely stay running and seemed to be running real rich due to it backfiring a bit when i revved it. Its stalled and i havent really been able to start it since. Ive got spark. Ive got 175 psi or more for compression. Plug wires and plugs are new. Fuel pump filter and tank are all new. I unplugged the coolant temp sensor to see if it would go into a default and i could get it to run but run rough. So i replaced the coolant temp sensor. The problem now is that it seems that i have no fuel. I turn the key to on and dont hear the fuel pump. But when i can crank the engine to start it (doesnt fire) but when i let go of the key the pump whines. Fuses are good for the pump. wire behind the panels seem to be good. Fuel pump relay is new and i switched it to the ASD to be sure and still got nothing. Really stumped here any suggestions would help!

 

1) Check your timing. If your belt dropped some teeth and it slipped, it could cause the car to start backfiring and then later cause it not to crank if it slips far enough out of time or completely stops turning.

2) Check all your vacuum lines and make sure they are good.

3) Check and clean your throttle body. It gets gunked up due to the EGR feeding crap to it all the time. If you want, also clean the intake and MAF sensor too.

4) Double check the wires and connectors going to the crank position sensor and the cam position sensor as if they get a short in them due to rubbing, it can cause the PCM to not receive the proper signals and the ASR will do it's job at that point. If you have a multimeter, check the sensors too. Sometimes they fail without error codes and can cause this problem.

 

would any of this cause the fuel pump to not turn on and prime though? thats my main question i suppose. Throttle body is clean pulled the timing check hole and the belt is in good shape. Would a sensor giving the wrong reading cause the fuel pump not to prime?

 

When was the last time you changed your timing belt? Sounds like it snapped. You could always pull the cover and look.

 

If the timing belt snapped i wouldnt have compression. Nontheless STILL wouldnt cause the fuel pump to not prime which is my issue.

 

Do you have any error codes in the PCM? I am going to assume you know how to do the Dodge key dance to get the 2 digit codes and/or have a OBD-II reader..

Have you checked all the fuses?

Have you checked the connectors on the fuel pump to see if they are getting juice when the key goes to the on position?

 

Sorry didnt see the 175 compression in your first paragraph. But you say here that you dont hear the fuel pump. I must have read right over this also. Should slow down and read it all. Do you never hear the fuel pump when you click the key to on?

 

i have not checked the connectors at the fuel pump to see if they are getting juice. the fuses look good. the only time you can hear the fuel pump going is when you are cranking the engine to start it and about a second after you let go of the key. It never whines up if you just turn the key to on. It only started doing this after i swapped out the coolant temp sensor a yesterday. before i did the temp sensor i could get it to just about run but it was real rough had too much fuel at that point because i had wet spark plugs.

 

also when i did the temp sensor quite a bit of coolant came out causing an air gap when i put the new one in. Could the air gap in the coolant sensor spot be throwing it off?

 

No. The air in the coolent system will not cause fuel to stop flowing. However, if you created a short in the connector or wires, it may be causing other issues that you are now seeing. Double check all the connectors and wires to see if there is any shorts in the wiring bundle or bad/dirty connectors.

If I understand your post correctly, when you switch the key to on, you do not hear the fuel pump whine for about 1 maybe 2 seconds until the fuel system fully pressurizes then kick off? It is that fast BTW for a correctly operating system. You can test to see if fuel is flowing fairly easily by pulling the plastic connector off the fuel rail, putting a plastic bottle over the open end to catch the fuel, and having someone turn on the key and then trying to start it. If fuel is making it to the rail, then you need to start checking the fuel injectors to see if they are working.